Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing

6 days ago | mdpi.com

Family businesses play a vital role in the global economy as an organizational form that has evolved over time. However, Chinese family firms generally suffer from insufficient investment in research and development. Based on panel data of Chinese listed family firms from 2008 to 2022, this study investigates the impact of government green subsidies on family firms’ green innovation, along with the heterogeneity of such effects under different scenarios. The results show that government green subsidies significantly promote both strategic and substantive green innovation. The moderating effect analysis reveals that economic policy uncertainty weakens the baseline effect. Further analysis confirms that the positive impact of green subsidies is achieved by alleviating firms’ R&D funding constraints. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that green subsidies have a stronger effect on non-heavily polluting firms; they promote substantive green innovation more effectively in firms with low managerial green cognition, and strategic green innovation in those with high cognition. Additionally, the effects vary across the firm life cycle: green subsidies enhance strategic green innovation during the growth and maturity stages, and substantive green innovation during the growth and decline stages. This study reveals the mechanisms through which government green subsidies affect green innovation in family firms and offers policy implications for promoting sustainable development in the family business sector.

2 weeks ago | mdpi.com

This study constructed a DGC-t-MSV model by integrating dynamic correlation and Granger causality into the MSV framework. Using daily closing price data from 4 January 2022 to 21 November 2024, it empirically analyzed volatility spillover effects between China’s carbon market and traditional manufacturing from an industrial heterogeneity perspective. The findings are as follows: (1) The carbon market exhibits significant unidirectional volatility spillover effects on carbon-intensive industries, such as steel, chemicals, shipbuilding, and automobile manufacturing, with the carbon market acting as the spillover source. (2) Bidirectional volatility spillover effects exist between the carbon market and industries such as forest products, textiles, construction engineering, and machinery manufacturing, with the carbon market predominantly acting as a recipient. (3) The carbon market exhibits general dynamic correlations with traditional manufacturing industries, where the correlation strength is positively associated with industry-level carbon emissions. Notably, the correlations with the steel, chemicals, machinery manufacturing, construction engineering, and automobile manufacturing industries are significant, whereas those with the textile industry and the forest products industry are relatively weaker. Furthermore, the carbon market demonstrates substantially higher volatility than traditional manufacturing industries. This study innovatively explored volatility spillover effects between China’s carbon market and traditional manufacturing from an industrial heterogeneity perspective, providing policy implications for their coordinated development.

1 month ago | mdpi.com

Travel and tourism are essential to global economies, generating social, economic, and environmental impacts. However, there is a lack of standardized methodologies to assess the environmental footprint of tourist destinations beyond carbon footprint analysis. This study introduces the Greentour tool, the first of its kind to evaluate the environmental impact of accommodation, restaurants, and tourism activities using nine environmental indicators from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. The tool applies a hybrid bottom-up and top-down approach, integrating data from tourist establishments and destination managers. The tool was tested in four tourist destinations in Spain and Portugal (Rías Baixas, Camino Lebaniego, Lloret de Mar, and Guimarães), revealing that transportation is the primary contributor to environmental impacts, ranging from 60% to 96% of total emissions, particularly in air-travel-dependent destinations. Food and beverage services are the second-largest contributor, accounting for up to 26% of emissions, while accommodation ranks third (1–14%). This study highlights the significant role of electricity consumption and food choices (e.g., red meat and dairy) in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, emphasizing the need for sustainable alternatives. Despite challenges in data collection, particularly for food and transport statistics, the Greentour tool has demonstrated robustness and adaptability across diverse destinations, making it applicable worldwide. This tool provides key insights for policymakers, tourism stakeholders, and businesses, supporting the integration of sustainability strategies into public policies and industry best practices. Future research should focus on expanding its use to additional destinations to foster science-based decision-making and promote more sustainable tourism practices globally.

1 month ago | mdpi.com | Hui Li |Yingtao Li |Murong Cheng |Yang Sun

3. Results and Discussion 3.1. Dry ConditionThe strains at the bottom of the surface layer of the three structures were collected. Figure 6 presents the history of the longitudinal and transverse strain versus time at the initial loading stage. In general, the total strain response of the asphalt pavement includes two parts: permanent strain and recoverable resilient strain. The resilient strain is defined as the magnitude of the strain recovering after a complete loading and unloading cycle.

1 month ago | mdpi.com | Jill Colton |Sarah Forrest

1. IntroductionTransmodality—the process of transforming a text or section of a text into another mode or modes—enables readers to engage deeply and imaginatively with literature through interpretation and response (Mills & Brown, 2022; McCormick, 2011; Enriquez & Wager, 2018; Nash, 2018).